NaviMedix to Provide Online Referral System to SummaCare; NaviNet Web Solution Embraced by Providers for Measurable Cost, Time Savings

Business Wire, Dec 13, 1999

BOSTON--(BW HealthWire)--Dec. 13, 1999--

NaviMedix, Inc. today announced that SummaCare Health Plan, an Ohio managed care organization serving more than 85,000 members, will use its NaviNet Web-based solution to automate the plan's paper-based referral process. The system will reduce administrative time and costs for SummaCare providers, ultimately improving both member and provider satisfaction.

According to a SummaCare survey, its physician offices have identified the need to convert the plan's 100 percent paper-based, manual referral process to a timesaving online system as a high priority.

"Provider and member satisfaction is extremely important to us. The overwhelmingly positive response from our providers to NaviNet was critical in our decision to partner with NaviMedix," says SummaCare Vice President of Health Services Management Nancy Markle. "In order for a system like this to work, provider offices have to be willing to use it, and our physicians are clearly excited about NaviNet."

On average, at provider sites where NaviNet has been implemented for other plans, physician office staff is accessing the system 15 to 50 times per day.

SummaCare will implement NaviNet as part of a one-year pilot program with 50 of its providers. NaviNet will replace the tangle of phone calls, faxes and paper forms with a Web solution that will enable providers to create and submit all referrals electronically.

Tests at other pilot sites have shown NaviNet to reduce the average referral time from 28 to 5 minutes, saving administrative staff five hours a day. Plans using NaviNet have found that for every dollar invested, they realize a $3 return.

Ultimately, such dramatic reductions in referral time and costs enable providers to spend more time providing quality care to more patients.

About NaviMedix

Founded in 1998, NaviMedix is a venture-backed company providing Web-based solutions to streamline and automate the inefficient paper, fax, and telephone interactions between physician offices and their trading partners, including managed care organizations, clinical laboratories, pharmacies, pharmacy benefit managers, integrated delivery networks, medical supply companies and financial services companies. Its goal is to become the leading provider of business-to-business communication solutions that enable trading partners to conduct mission critical transactions with physician offices via the Internet.

About SummaCare Health Plan

SummaCare Health Plan is a locally formed and operated Ohio managed care organization created as a joint venture between Summa Health System and many of its active doctors. SummaCare currently markets a full line of managed care products, including HMO, Point-of-Service, Medicare HMO, prescription, life and dental plans, as well as a Medicaid HMO product. Through its extensive network of physicians and hospitals, SummaCare offers coverage to more than 85,000 members in northeastern Ohio. By stressing prevention and wellness through education and member awareness, SummaCare's main goal is to improve the health of the community.